Victorian Silver Crystal Palace Great Exhibition Commemorative Aide Memoire

Purse revealing diary and pen in the interior.

The Great Exhibition. New York: Gramercy Books, 1995. Hardcover with dust jacket. 328 pp. A facsimile of the illustrated catalogue of London's 185...

A fine and rare 19th century sterling silver snuff box made specifically for the Great Exhibition of 1851, held at the Crystal Palace in Londo...

Antique mid-19th Century Victorian very rare cast iron scale model of the original meter used to measure the amount of gas used at the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park during the Great E...

These interesting inkwells were crafted in Britain between the Victorian period and early to mid-20th century. The works have been created from horse hooves, applied with sterling silver mounts. Each hoof has been set onto a silver horseshoe and features a silver top and lid. Two of the tops have been engraved to imitate real horse hair, while the third is more simple, with banded ornament. All three have been given covers, two of which feature commemorative inscriptions. One lid states, ‘The Grey/1907-1917’ — presumably the name of the favourite racehorse, whose hoof this is — and another reads, ‘Mavourneen/ Died June 29th / Aged 53’. ‘Mavourneen’ is an Irish Gaelic word meaning ‘my beloved’. The dedicatee’s age of 53 implies that they were a human, perhaps a jokey, or racehorse owner. The lids open up onto a silver-lined interior, intended to be used for storing ink as part of a desk arrangement. The inkwells are stamped, on their underside, with silver hallmarks and maker’s marks, ‘J.T.’ and ‘C & CS’. This set of three horse hoof inkwells...

Ref: 24105 This was the third joint exhibition with Christopher Clarke Antiques, a specialist in military campaign furniture and travel related items. ‘Sports and Games and Great C...